Leinster Pairs and u/12 & u/13 T&F 2018 (9th June)
Summer scorcher for Leinster T&F in Tullamore
The early morning mist in Tullamore last Saturday morning quickly burned off to give way to a glorious sunny day, though as the temperature rose to the mid-twenties Celsius during the afternoon, conditions became quite tough for running for the young athletes competing in the Leinster u/9 to u/13 T&F. The u/9, u/10 and u/11 athletes competed in pairs, which meant their times in track races or distances jumped or thrown in field events were added together to give them a team score, adding to the excitement as each depended on their partner to perform as well as themselves. The older u/12 and u/13 athletes competed as individuals. Mullingar had nearly seventy youngsters taking part and when added to the huge number of boys and girls from Clubs right across Leinster, it meant that there were many heats in every track event and the programme was very long but the Mullingar athletes coped extremely well and all gave great accounts of themselves. As with any Championships, medals were very hard to win but our young athletes competed to the very best of their abilities and were delighted to be competing, whatever the outcome in terms of medals. That said, we were delighted that by the end of a very long day Mullingar athletes had won nine medals – three gold, two silver and four bronze – and a fourth place finish too, so Mullingar will be well represented in the All-Ireland Finals but more importantly the future looks very bright for the Club.
First into action were Morgan Corcoran, Orla Manning, Ellen Daly, Rose Macken, and Eve Scally in the girls 600m u/12. Though all ran well, only Morgan qualified for the final where she turned in an excellent performance, running faster than in her heat, but finished just out of the medals in fifth place, only a split second off the bronze medal. Jamie Wallace and James Flynn romped home in their heat of the boys 600m u/12 to qualify comfortably for the final, as did Conor Liston in his heat, but no such luck for Alex Lynch, Rory McDonnell, Andrew Gavigan and Hugh Carey who didn’t advance to the final. As expected, the final was run at a blistering pace from the start. Conor Liston led from gun to tape to win in a new Championship Best Performance of 1:42.78, followed by Jamie Wallace in second place who dug deep in the home straight to hold off a late challenge and James Flynn was just run out of the medal places in a very tight finish.
Adele Geoghegan and Aimee Wallace won their heats of the girls 600m u/13 to qualify for the final, along with Lucy Donnelly who finished third in her heat, but Síofra O’Halloran, Leah Geoghegan, Jessica Cunningham and Shauna Traynor didn’t advance from the very competitive heats. After a cautious first lap the final came down to a sprint over the final 200m where Aimee came though very fast to take the bronze medal, followed home by Adele and Lucy who had to settle for places out of the medals, but can take satisfaction from qualifying for a Leinster final. Philip McCartan made it look easy to win his heat of the boys 600m u/13 and qualify for the final, joined by Daire McDonald, but unfortunately not by David Burke who did not advance from his heat. Leading from the start the win looked assured for Philip McCartan when he turned into the home straight but he had to dig deep in the closing stages to hold off a very late challenge, but he had enough spare in the tank and with a dip at the line worthy of the best sprinters he finished first. Daire ran much faster than in the heat but had to settle for a place out of the medals in a very close finish, though he knows he performed really well.
Moving to the girls 600m u/11 pairs, despite great efforts by Eileen Farrell, Emily Farrell, Eva Jackson, Orlagh O’Brien and Charlotte Butler Clyne, there were no medals won by the Mullingar girls. Matthew Molloy won his race of the boys 600m u/11 in great style and with Luke Greene finishing well up in his race, when their times were added, the boys were delighted to finish third overall and win Leinster bronze medals. Megan Charles and Beibhinn O’Reilly (girls 300m u/9), Greg McDonnell, Jack Geoghegan, Cathal Kilmurray, Joshua Scahill and Cillian Grennan (boys 300m u/9), Therese Daly, Katie Glennon, Pippa Jackson, Aiveen Lynch, Sarah Davitt and Kiera Vitalo (girls 500m u/10), and Oliver Lynch (boys 500m u/10) competed well but finished out of the medal places.
A leap of 1.39m on his second attempt in the boys u/12 high jump was good enough for Criostoir Ormsby to win the event and secure the gold medal. Alex Lynch enjoyed competing in the boys u/12 shot despite finishing out of the medals, as did Jack Geoghegan and Cillian Grennan (boys u/9 pairs long jump) and Luke Greene and Matthew Molloy (boys u/11 pairs long jump), who jumped well but didn’t finish in the medals.
In the girls 60m u/9, Cara Andrews and Megan Charles finished third and second respectively in their races and when their times were added they finished just outside the medal places. Also competing was Alexa Gavigan, Beibhinn O’Reilly, Aobh Smith and Hui Fen Bartley but they too finished out of the medals. Despite some great sprinting performances, there were no medals for Joshua Scahill, Cathal Kilmurray, Greg McDonnell, Jonah Hassett, Jude Murtagh, Darragh McCabe, Darragh Daly and Cian Traynor (boys 60m u/9), Katie Glennon, Therese Daly, Pippa Jackson, Aiveen Lynch and Sarah Davitt (girls 60m u/10), Oliver Lynch, Conor Geoghegan, Joshua Wade and Joshua Marriott (boys 60m u/10). We got back in the medals again when a win by Katie Kilmurray in her girls 60m u/11 and a very close third place by Norah Garry in her 60m saw the girls rewarded with bronze medals. No luck though for Jayne Charles, Lydia McDonnell, Síofra O’Reilly, Eileen Farrell, Eva Jackson and Emily Farrell in their 60m races though they turned in some great performances. An excellent first place for William Scahill in his boys 60m u/11 and a close fourth by Sean Graham in his race saw the Mullingar pair win the bronze medals to add to the Mullingar haul.
Orla Manning, Eve Scally and Aideen Langtry contested the girls 60m u/12 but didn’t advance from the extremely competitive heats. No problem for Kyle Faherty and Criostoir Ormsby in their heats of the boys 60m u/12, both advancing to the final, but sadly not joined by Jamie Wallace, Andrew Gavigan, Killian O’Halloran, Hugh Carey or Rory McDonnell. Flying from the start in the final, Kyle was always in contention and keeping his form brilliantly he crossed the line in second place, only a few hundredths of a second away from gold, with Criostoir close behind in fourth, just missing a medal by the narrowest of margins. It was great to see Emma Higgins in her first race for Mullingar advance from her heat of the girls 60m u/13, joining Aimee Wallace in the semi-final who advanced from her heat, but though she ran very well, Shauna Traynor didn’t advance to join the girls in the semis. Aimee safely negotiated the semi-final to qualify for the final, but despite running faster than in the heat, Emma did not advance to the final with Aimee, where despite a strong effort, Aimee had to settle for a place out of the medals on this occasion.
The final race of the day with a Mullingar interest was the girls u/11 Inter-County relay where Norah Garry, Jayne Charles, Eva Jackson and Katie Kilmurray combined well and put in a strong effort but finished out of the medal places.
All the Mullingar youngsters competed brilliantly and their coaches were very proud of them, which repaid them well for all the time and effort they put into training and getting them ready for competition. Thanks to the many parents for bringing the youngsters to Tullamore and providing terrific vocal support and encouragement.
The first three in the pairs events and the first four in the u/12 and u/13 events (except the 600m where it’s the first three) qualify for the All-Ireland Finals. Therefore, Mullingar supporters will have plenty to cheer about at the AAI Juvenile Games in Tullamore on Sunday 1st July, which is the All-Ireland for the u/9, 10 and 11 pairs. The All-Ireland for the u/12 and u/13 field events will also take place at the Juvenile Games but the All-Ireland for their track events will take place with the older juveniles in Tullamore on 14th and 15th July.
